Manassas family rewarded for volunteerism

Manassas, Va. - Family gets vacation on Disney World

For their extensive volunteer work, a Manassas family got an all-expense paid trip to Disney World in Orlando.

The Gantz-Barse family was selected by Disney and the Hands-On-Network to represent Virginia as the outstanding volunteer family in the state.

One family from each of the 50 states was chosen to participate in the Family Volunteer Celebra-tion kick-off at Epcot Center.

The event kicked off the Disney theme of Give One-Get One where families received a day pass to any Disney theme park for giving eight hours of volunteer service to an approved volunteer activity.

The Gant-Barse was selected for the four-day, three-night trip for its volunteer program "Recycled Cycles" that the children, Sean Barse, 10, Jacob Gantz, 10, Sydney Gantz, 13, and Justin Gantz, 19, developed in 2006.

The children collected gently used bikes, refurbished them and gave them to needy children in the Manassas area. The family has distributed more than 100 bicycles since the program be-gan.

The family was also honored by Family Fun Magazine as one of the top 20 volunteer families in the Nation in 2008-09. The magazine donated $1,000 to Baldwin Elementary School as part of the award. This money was used to purchase holiday gifts for needy families of the school.

Other volunteer efforts that the family are involved with include working in the WIN food pantry at Manassas Baptist Church, helping run the annual clothing give away with Manassas City Schools and Manassas Baptist Church, and volunteering at a local soup kitchen.

Michelle Cowin-Gantz is a school counselor at Baldwin and volunteers at the school by running after school clubs such as the Baldwin Rocket Kids Care Club which develops young stu-dent's character through service to others. She also works with the F.L.Y. Girls program to help at risk girls develop healthy self-esteem and relationships.

Like the rest of the family, Jacob Gantz said he enjoys volunteering.

"I like the good feeling you get when you give to others. It is like an incredible warm, feeling all over." He also admitted "Sometimes I cry tears of joy when I know I have just given a kid a gift they wouldn't have otherwise had."

Thirteen-year-old Sydney said "My favorite part of volunteering is knowing that the world is a better place because of one small act of kindness. Because one family took the time to care many families have a better life."

Cowin-Gantz added "Volunteering brings our family together. It is something we all enjoy and we all can feel good about. My kids enjoy our volunteer vacations and talk about them more than any roller coaster ride. I encourage all families to take time out to work together on a project that helps others."

Cowin-Gantz, along with Sydney and Justin, have joined teams from the church on mission trips to rebuild homes in Grenada and West Virginia, and she went to Europe to run an English camp in the Slovakia. This summer, the Gantz-Barse family will travel to Haiti to volunteer in an or-phanage.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707